Gmail enables users to access their inboxes through a broad variety of Internet-connected devices and platforms. If you use several devices, have several email addresses to which you forward your email or regularly allow other users to access your inbox, keeping track of which emails you've read can be challenging. For this reason, Gmail has several methods of ensuring that you can see at a glance which emails you or others have already read, while unread emails remain in bold text in your inbox.

Step 1

Log in to your Gmail account, and click the gear icon by your username in the upper right corner of your main inbox.

Step 2

Select "Settings" from the drop-down menu that launches from the gear icon, and then click the "Accounts" tab in the menu across the top.

Step 3

Locate the section labeled "Grant Access to Your Account," and click the radio box next to "Mark Conversation as Read When Opened by Others." If you have granted other users permission to access your inbox, this setting notifies you that the other user has read your email by marking the individual emails as "Read."

Step 4

Click the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab in your Gmail settings.

Step 5

Select "Mark Gmail's Copy as Read" in the Forwarding section of your settings if you forward your Gmail to another email address. This ensures that Gmail notifies you of all your forwarded emails by marking them as "Read."

Step 6

Select "Mark Gmail's Copy as Read" in the POP Download section. This setting ensures that anytime you access your Gmail through another email client such as Outlook or Thunderbird, Gmail marks the email as "Read" in the Gmail inbox.

Step 7

Click "Save Changes" to make your changes permanent and exit the settings page.

Tip

If you'd like to mark read email as "Unread," check the box next to the email in your inbox, click the "More" button and select "Mark As Unread" from the drop-down menu.

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About the Author

Andrea Ruiz has written professionally for blogs, online entertainment magazines and television network websites for more than a decade. Ruiz has also been a web and social media developer, Internet business consultant and computer programmer since 1999, and worked for four years as a professional community manager. Ruiz holds a Bachelor of Arts from University of Massachusetts, Boston.